


revenge and fries

by tillsunrise



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, McDonald's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23948176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tillsunrise/pseuds/tillsunrise
Summary: Luke's mistake was thinking he could persuade Nico di Angelo to join his side. Nico wasn't interested in roundabout revenge. Whatever revenge he took would be on his own terms. Set between TTC and BoTL.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 90
Collections: nicoforthehalfbloods





	revenge and fries

**Author's Note:**

> hshdjfs more stuff i wrote when i was 14 and moving here from ff.net, sorry again for any mistakes! <3

_"Whoever has provoked men to rage against him has always gained a party in his favor too."_

_—Friedrich Nietzsche_

Nico di Angelo wasn't used to being interrogated.

And he hardly expected it to take place in a McDonald's. But over the course of the past year, strange things had become…normal to him rather quickly. It might have been that he was a demigod. Plus, being a son of Hades didn't help his situation too much.

Still, that being said, this wasn't the first Nico had been interrogated. The first time he'd been interrogated had been by Annabeth Chase, who'd glared right through him with her eerie gray eyes, demanding he spill all his secrets. He didn't know any secrets.

And the ones he had weren't particularly noteworthy or even worth mentioning. Not if he wanted to be on Annabeth's good side. He didn't think she wanted to know he'd cheated at Mythomagic. She'd been neither a good cop nor a bad one, just a really scary one. She'd even offered up her cell phone, to see if he would call anybody.

Nico doubted there would be any mortal relatives of his willing to talk to him. Not when he was 70 years out of his time. 

Nico sighed, dipping one of his many greasy, unhealthy French fries into ketchup. He inspected it thoroughly, almost hungrily eating it up with his eyes. In the end, he eschewed the poor, limp fry, discarding it and wiping his oily fingers on a white paper napkin.

He looked up, outside the glass windows of the popular fast food chain. He was in California, in the middle of nowhere with nowhere on his mind and his destination set to nowhere. He was in an oasis, a rest stop of sort on the highway, where food was offered regularly. Nico had scrounged up enough money to buy himself a Happy Meal, a suddenly depressing prospect considering his current state. That, and a medium fries.

And then, as if they'd appeared by magic, a blond-haired boy walked in with a manticore tailing after him.

Nico tensed, his hand immediately going to the ring on his right pointer finger. Not only a guise for a wicked-sharp blade, but an immediate stress reliever. The boy walked in, saw him and gave a little exhale of recognition.

Weird.

And then he walked over, taking a seat across from Nico. The manticore stood at the end of the booth, blocking any escape route of Nico's.

From up close, this seemingly normal boy was much different. He had sky blue eyes and a scar running down the side of his face. He even had a double-edge sword of steel and bronze strapped to his back. He seemed about college-age.

Now, Nico was no genius like Annabeth but he knew who this demigod was. Whispers at the camp were always late to reach him, but whispers got to Nico still.

"You're him. Luke."

The corner of Luke's mouth tugged up into a half-smile, but even that didn't feel warm at all. He sniffed. "It is true. You reek of death, Nico di Angelo."

Nico tried not to show how much his hearing his family name bothered him. He couldn't ever not think of Bianca, dead now pretty much by the hands of Percy Jackson, who had lied to him and broke his promise. The rage surged up again, clouding his vision, and Nico took a deep breath, channeling that rage into his so-far civil conversation with Luke. "So I've been told."

"You must be wondering why I'm here." Luke snapped his fingers; Nico didn't know whether he was snapping at the manticore or just because he felt like it, but suddenly the cashiers all disappeared into the back cellar of the McDonald's, some even leaving the stove on in their haste. Customers also quickly vacated the small stuffy place. Now that it was empty though, it didn't seem so small.

"I also wonder to myself what death will feel like if I were to choke on a tuna sandwich. Did you know that?" challenged Nico.

The ridiculous grin on Luke's face had not disappeared yet. It irked Nico; he wanted to smack it off his face. "I've come here with a proposition."

"Sorry, I don't want to marry you," snapped Nico. The manticore snorted.

Luke sighed, tired of kids like every other mortal his age. "As I was saying, you know who I am. And we could be interested in people like you. You hate the gods; they've never offered anything to you, and they've never done that to me either. You're angry that your sister is dead. So am I."

Nico curled his lip. "You never knew her. Why would you care?"

Luke stared at him intensely, and Nico couldn't really look away. "My best friend died when I was 14 because of the gods. I've only ever met my father once, and he was useless. My mother went crazy because of the gods. I may not know your sister, but join me so that you can avenge her and Bianca will not have—"

"Don't say her name!" shouted Nico. "You're not worthy to say her name."

"—died in vain," he finished. "Look. You want to gut her killer in the stomach, don't you? You know how she died, don't you? One of the gods' many inventions. Discarded junk made by Hephaestus tossed on Earth. Just up and away, that's what your sister was. She died of starvation, lack of water, alone in the desert, electrocuted. It was painful," he hissed. "Don't say you don't feel anything."

Nico closed his eyes, pain right there on his eyelids again. He hadn't been there for Bianca when she'd died; he should have been there. After Percy had told him what happened, he'd dreamt about it. He always imagined what it would have been like. Luke was stupid, but he was right.

And yet, there were better ways of going about revenge than just picking the losing side.

"I won't say that," said Nico resignedly.

Luke leaned back in his seat, carelessly almost. Nico figured it would be really funny if he accidentally impaled himself on his sword. It would finally put to rest all that talk of great swordsmanship. "Mind if I take one?" he asked, picking up another fry from his big plate of them.

Nico shook his head mutely. 

Luke popped the fry in his mouth, chewed around for a while and swallowed audibly. "Ah," he sighed. "We could be great buddies, you and I. You hate Percy Jackson; so do I. Join our cause; we only need one more. It will be you. Kronos will rise, and you'll be the favored one. I guarantee it. By my side, you can personally be the one to kill Jackson. This is too good an opportunity to miss."

Nico looked around the empty, deserted restaurant. He wondered what the mortals would think if they saw this. A 21-year-old-something guy hanging out with a mopey 13-year-old who looked like he'd just lost his teddy bear. Nico laughed bitterly.

Luke misunderstood. "What's so funny?" he demanded, nostrils flaring in annoyance.

Nico shook his head. Still, internally, he kept mulling over something Luke had said. _You hate Percy Jackson; so do I_. The words rang inside Nico's head. Did he really hate Percy?

No, he told himself. Nico had placed his trust in Percy back when he'd first met him. How could someone like him lie, he'd wondered? He thought Percy couldn't lie; not when he was that sincere about everything. As for now, he resented Percy for breaking his promise, sure. But to the point of murder?

Nico looked up at Luke, judging him by the angry scowl on his face, the years of pent up rage stored inside him. Luke may be right, but Nico's revenge needed to be his and his alone. 

"I'm sorry, Luke. But I can't."

Luke nodded slowly, understanding but not quite. "Consider yourself lucky. This is the second personal visit I've made this summer to a demigod of course."

"The first being?"

"Annabeth, of course." Nico blinked, unsure really what to make of that.

Luke cleared his throat. "I'll just leave then," he said. "Until next time, Nico di Angelo. And there will be a next time," he warned. He beckoned the manticore with his fingers to follow him out, and just the way they'd come, disappearing into mist the moment they stepped outside onto the concrete.

They were just a trick of the eye, leaving Nico alone with his thoughts.

Sighing, Nico stood up, his chair angrily scraping against the seldom cleaned floor as it was pushed in. He picked up his fries and dumped them into Happy Meal bag. He was taking this to-go.

He was just about to push open the door, when he saw a bright specter of light reflected through the glass double doors. Nico whirled. He…was looking at a ghost.

That was the only word for it. This apparition floated just inches above the ground, and his clothes didn't have a splash of color. From head to toe the apparition was grey. 

"Who are you?" croaked out Nico, bewildered.

The ghost looked rather indignant. "I travel nearly 6 hours to find a son of Hades whom I've only heard rumors about, and this is the welcome I get?" he scoffed. "Abhorrent. I knew we should have stayed in Great Britain, and not bothered with shifting the Underworld across another ocean," he muttered.

"Who are you?" repeated Nico again, stronger now that he'd twisted his ring and brandished his Stygian Iron blade.

The ghost inspected the tip of the blade, finding it rather…dissatisfactory. "My, my. Manners these days. Very well. I'm the instrument that will get you your revenge against Percy Jackson."

Nico's ears perked up. "Your name," he insisted, waving the blade closer, despite having no idea how to kill a ghost that was already dead.

The ghost's eyes flashed angrily, the most alive part of him. Only spite was strong enough to sustain someone like that. "Minos."

Nico lowered the blade.


End file.
